Jackson Square Capital LLC Lowers Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• Jackson Square Capital LLC reduced its stake in Apple Inc. by 24.9%, owning 67,670 shares after selling 22,488 shares during the 2nd quarter, making Apple the fund's 7th largest position.
• Apple's stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with a price target averaging $244.66, reflecting widespread support from analysts.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.26 per share, contributing to an annualized dividend yield of 0.4% and demonstrating a low payout ratio of 15.78%.

Jackson Square Capital LLC lowered its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 24.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 67,670 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 22,488 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 3.1% of Jackson Square Capital LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Jackson Square Capital LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $13,884,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Burkett Financial Services LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,401 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,199,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Apple by 28.3% during the first quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,211 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $935,000 after buying an additional 930 shares during the period. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 0.4% during the first quarter. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 62,001 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $13,772,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,337,000 after buying an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Andina Capital Management LLC raised its position in Apple by 209.2% in the first quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC now owns 6,786 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $1,507,000 after acquiring an additional 4,591 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total transaction of $7,772,047.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $30,508,538.40. This trade represents a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 15th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $290.00 price objective for the company. HSBC set a $220.00 target price on Apple and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $266.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. Morgan Stanley set a $240.00 price objective on Apple and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $244.66.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $256.87 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $227.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $212.99. The firm has a market cap of $3.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.11.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The company had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $88.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.40 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple's dividend payout ratio is currently 15.78%.

Apple Company Profile

Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories worldwide. The company offers iPhone, a line of smartphones; Mac, a line of personal computers; iPad, a line of multi-purpose tablets; and wearables, home, and accessories comprising AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, and HomePod.

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